Habits (and how they spread)
by rex1011amit
Summary: Eri does something awfully curious. Izuku and Ochako don't know what to do about it. Cross-posted AO3, sixth in a series of cute Eri one shots.


The members of UA Heroics class 1-A are, all in all, a pretty unique bunch of kids.

Each of them with their own little twist of personality shinning through on a daily and mundane basis. From Tooru's unshakable enthusiasm to Tenya's po-faced seriousness, their classes and time spent with each other was always filled with some sort of well known oddity or habit from one of them shaking things up to keep the day-to-day grind of school from becoming too much.

As time wore on, each of the kids learned and adapted to their fellow classmate's mannerisms, to varying degrees, and from that familiarity came the one thing one can never avoid when spending a significant amount of time in the presence of others, in-jokes.

The most prevalent of these in-jokes, was the habit of one Midoriya Izuku to go into what most of his friends have dubbed, "The Mumble Storm."

Whenever Deku's thought process got to involved, and he began to spiral into what at times felt like an endless stream of contemplation, one of his classmates would inevitably have to drag him out it, before one of the teachers decides to do it themselves…and pair it with a detention for disrupting class.

At first this habit of his creeped out a good number of the class, but since time had worn away the shock, the only real reaction they seem to have for it now is shouting out, "Whose turn is it to snap him out of it?"

And when Kaminari started hearing the beginnings of a particularly involved mumble storm while studying in the common room and not wanting to lose whatever little concentration he's managed to obtain, he was about to say just that, when he stopped himself.

Since when was Midoriya's voice that soft pitched?

Looking up from his study book he looked across the room at the couch in front of the TV, where he saw the usual trio of Eri and her "Mama and Papa" sitting when he came in an hour ago, and from his position near the kitchen corner he could see the green and brunette heads of the two "parents" looking back and forth between each other and the little white lump of hair sitting between them on the couch.

Curiosity peaked, he walked towards the couch, leaning over the back rest and what he saw awed him down to the very core of his soul.

Eri was hunching forward, pulling at her lower lip, one foot tapping insistently, and was muttering a seemingly endless stream of thoughts, the intensity of her thought process and the sheer thickness of her verbosity almost weighing down the air around her, almost making it seem like her rumination were floating in mid air above all their heads, spiraling out of her mind with no restraint.

To his eternal shock, Eri was having her very own "Mumble Storm."

He had to tell everybody.

Izuku and Ochako were in a very odd predicament, one moment they were talking to Eri about what they had planned for the day, and the next they were drowning in the little girl's mumbling.

"-there's that new ramen stand a few blocks away that Uncle Kami kept talking about, but uncle Tenya said it's full of bad stuff that would cause "cardicat arrest" so maybe-"

All they did was ask her where she wanted to go to lunch, and once she started deliberating on where to go they couldn't stop her, her speech becoming more muddled and rapid as she went on.

"-Of course there's that Chinese place that Big bro Sero keeps bringing take out from, but Big bro Shoji is allergic to most of it and Auntie Mina says it makes you fat so we can-"

Deku had the distinct impression that he's viewing something very familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"-and the place Uncle Kaka always goes too is too spicy for everyone else, and the places Big bro Shouto and Big sis Momo take me are too expensive, and everyone gave Big Bro Mineta a weird look when he said he went to a "cat maid cafe" but that sounds really cute-

Ochako, on the other hand, knew exactly what the little girl was doing, and the resemblance to when Deku did it was utterly incredible, but right now, the initial shock of seeing Eri do it knocked all the knowledge she had acquired about stopping "mumble storms" out of her head, and all she could do was stare in awe and hold on for dear life alongside Deku as it ran its course.

Just when she was about to try and find a way to stop it, she felt the weight of the couch shift slightly starting at the head of the back rest, causing her and Izuku to lift there eyes to find the rest of the class watching.

Mina and Tooru had their phones out, obviously recording every lovely minute, the pink heroine looking about ready to burst with joy, eyes shining and grin stretching all the way across her face as she whispered in awe, "This is the most amazing thing I have ever seen."

The invisible girl was shaking, well, her cloths and phone were shaking, obviously indicating she and Mina were on the same page, though all she seemed able to say was, "Oh my God."

"See?" Came Kaminari's voice from further right, his own grin rivaling Mina's, "She really is her Papa's daughter!" He was just putting back his own phone in his pocket, seeing Mina has reconnaissance covered, "I am never letting this go."

"Wasn't one of you enough?" Sero rubbed his head, looking more annoyed then amazed, addressing Deku and the unresponsive Eri in equal measure, though a corner of his mouth was twitching up every so often, "Mumble duty was enough of a pain as it is…"

Deku shook his head, finally managing to get some focus back, though only just enough to stare at Sero in confusion, "Mumble duty? What are you talking about?"

"It's how we decide who needs to bring you back to reality when you start another Mumble Storm," Kirishima laughed, his eyes on Eri and his mouth pulled to the side in a smirk, "And it looks like it just doubled…"

Izuku gaped at his classmates, "You have a name for it?" He shook his head, "Never mind, just…how do you get me out of it? Eri-chan's been going at this for a few minutes now!"

"Oh my God."

Satou shrugged, "We each have our own way, though I don't think most of those ways would work here…" He scratched his chin, "Maybe if a bake a quick little something for her and put it under her nose like smelling salts…"

Ochako was torn between laughing herself silly and feeling sorry for Izuku, the former feeling only just barely winning out when a snort escaped her.

Tokoyami side eyed him, "I am fairly certain that's not how smelling salts work…besides," He looked directly at Eri, the girl now muttering to herself about the pros and cons of Sushi versus Yakiniku, "I don't think giving her more food to think about would be of much use here…"

"Oh my God."

"I usually drop a bit of ice down the back of Midoriya's shirt." Todoroki pointed out, the boy in question giving him a flat look to convey as well as he could how he felt about that particular method, "…Though doing it to her seems a bit…cruel…"

Momo tapped her fingers on her forearm, forehead scrunched up, "We should have made precautions," She shook her head with a frustrated sigh, "It was inevitable that this would happen…" Izuku opened him mouth to question why exactly it was inevitable, when Tooru spoke up one more time.

"Oh my God."

Katsuki, who had been quietly glaring at them all until now, growled in anger, "Oh just zip it See-through!" He turned to the three on the couch with his signature toothy scowl, "Look, I'll just flick her on the ear, that always works on Deku so no reason…it…shouldn't…" He trailed off as he noticed Ochako and Izuku straight up glaring at him, and a minor twitch of his eye to his right reveled the rest of the class doing much the same,"…work on her." He sighed, "Fine, but what are we supposed to do? Just wait until she's-"

"Got it!" Eri suddenly exclaimed, snapping out of her mumbles in a single leap seemingly unaware that she was doing it at all as she turned to Izuku with a grin, "Papa! I want to-" Noticing the dip in the couch, she looked up to see the rest of the class looking at her, half with shock and half with unabashed grins, and waved at them, "Oh! Hey everyone!" They all waved back, Mina looked like she was holding back tears as she smiled, and went back to Izuku, "Papa, can we go to McDonald's?"

Izuku, still reeling from this whole ordeal, could only smile and nod, "S-sure Eri-chan, go get dressed and we'll get going."

"Okay!" She got up from the couch and rushed out of the door, waving to the rest of the class as she went.

Mina sniffed, her lips wobbling and black eyes shimmering with tears, "That girl is a blessing."

Aoyama patted her shoulder with a mild smile and a nod, "Of course she is, plus," He turned towards Izuku and Ochako, who were just finished letting out sighs of relief when they heard him and saw him stare at them, "It seems that she's finally put a long unanswered question to rest."

Ochako raised an eyebrow at the flashy blond, suspicion gnawing at the small of her back, "What question?"

"A question regarding your mumbling habit mon ami," He grinned, "And now we've got the definitive answer, that its hereditary."

Izuku stared at him blankly, "What?"

"Well, if it was infectious we'd all be doing it, but instead the only other one we've seen doing it is our precious petite licrone," Something glinted in his eye, "And why wouldn't she? Her Papa does it all the time!"

Izuku stared at him more, his eyes widening with comprehension before his face flushed a bit, he excused himself and got up from the couch to get ready for lunch, though as he past Aoyama the flashy student couldn't help but notice how the corner of his mouth twitched up ever so slightly.

Mina laughed a little next to him, sniffing one last time before turning to him and saying, loud enough for both Izuku and the rest of the room to hear, "Lets hope she doesn't inherent Ochako-chan's competitiveness, that would be weird to see!"

The girl in question bolted up from the couch, hot on Izuku's trail, only sparing her pink friend a brief withering glare before she left.

Shoji sighed, "One of these days you two are going to push them too far."

Aoyama laughed, "Well of course, that goes with out saying."

Mina giggled, "But they just make it too easy!"

(The class ended up inviting themselves to join the trio for McDonald's, even managing to drag Katsuki into the mess, the employees somehow managed to keep their heads cool as 21 kids piled up next to the cash register, though they were baffled that a bunch of teenagers didn't even complain once as the little girl took her sweet time in deciding what to order.

Eri ended up insisting that she and Deku share a kids meal, which he relented to once she promised him they would share the toy All Might figure that came with it too.)


End file.
